clitoris

The clitoris was "discovered" (at least by males) and documented for the first time by Matteo Realdo Colombo: a lecturer in surgery at the University of Padua, Italy.

In 1559 he published a book called De re anatomica in which he described the "seat of woman's delight." He concluded, "since no one has discerned these projections and their workings, if it is permissible to give names to things discovered by me, it should be called the love or sweetness of Venus."

There are also several claims that knowledge of the clitoris was widely known well before either man's 'discovery'. But Colombo's remains the earliest physical documentation of the bud that would one day become a phenomenom leading to the sexual revolution.

The clitoris (pronounced: KLIHT uh rihs) is a sexual organ in the body of female mammals, located near where the labia minora meet anteriorly. The visible knob-like portion is located above the opening of the vagina. Its function is inducing sexual pleasure and orgasms.

In regard to dpr's writeup, which referred to Venus, one great trick (found in a Playboy article, no doubt) is an interesting form of oral sex. The person who is "down south" blows air through his/her closed lips, resulting in a humming or buzzing sound. The facial lips are applied to the lower lips while this buzzing continues. This practice is referred to as "The Venusian Kazoo". Note: never blow air directly into the vagina, as this can cause harm or at least incredible discomfort.

clitoris (plural, clitorides; adjective,clitoral or clitoridean): the small, hooded organ (the clitoral glans) at the top of the cleft of the female vulva, which is the counterpart of the penis in the male [from Greek, kleitoris, clitoris]. Usually only the glans of the clitoris is externally visible. In the human female the body of the clitoris extends internally on either side of the vulva and vestibule. In total the clitoris is about 80 percent the size of the male penis. In the rat, mouse, and hamster, the clitoris is not hooded, but its covering is fused as in the male's penis to form a urinary tube.

What we typically identify as the clitoris, the small bulbous anatomical architecture crowning the vagina beneath it's bonnet-like hood, is actually akin to the tip of an iceberg. The entire organ, in fact, is many times larger and has a surprising overall shape which has been compared to a pterodactyl looking down from its perch, for its taper-tipped 'wings' extend several inches into each side of the pelvis. It is through them that blood is supplied to engorge the tubal portion, which then stiffens and straightens, pushing the tip upwards against the clitoral hood (and here is a brief computer animated simulation of that process). The whole of the organ in actuality looks sort of like this: